Meet the Cleveland Museum's Interim Director

The Cleveland Plain Dealer gives the background on Deborah Gribbon, a former director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, who has been named Interim Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art:

Gribbon holds doctoral and master’s degrees in art history from Harvard University. After working as a curator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, she joined the Getty in 1984.

Rising through the curatorial ranks, she helped expand the Getty’s widely admired collection and helped guide the program for the $1 billion Getty Center, designed by architect Richard Meier, which opened in 1997.

In 2000, Gribbon was named director of the Getty, succeeding John Walsh. She stepped down in the fall of 2004 over differences with Barry Munitz, then president and chief executive officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust, which oversees the museum and other divisions of the Getty Center.

Gribbon’s departure was interpreted widely in the press as a principled stand against second-guessing by higher-ups in the Getty organization. As she left her office on her last day at work, the museum staff gave her a standing ovation.

In 2006, Munitz resigned under pressure during an investigation by the California attorney general’s office into alleged improper use of his expense account. Munitz paid $250,000 in fines to the trust and had to forgo a $2 million severance package, according to news accounts.